Tag: Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly

Friday (08-July-2022) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Moths and Butterflies of the day viewed in the backyard: Hummingbird Clearwing Moth, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Common Sootywing Butterfly, Little Glassywing Butterfly, Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly. The wildflower meadow with Bee Balm or Wild Bergamot is in bloom. The deer don’t like these plants so they don’t need to be within a fenced area. For the last several years the flowers have attracted several butterflies, and Hummingbird Clearwing Moths.


Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Common Sootywing Butterfly. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Little Glassywing Butterfly. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Birds of the day viewed in my backyard: Mourning Dove, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, House Finch, Northern Cardinal.


Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (75.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (50.7 kWh) from Sense. Sun and clouds. Deficit of 25.0 kWh.

powered by Ambient Weather

Friday (02-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. Today with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/4 VR lens. Lots of activity in the wildflower meadows. The Goldfinch are busy chowing down on Sunflower Seeds. Right now there are lots and lots of Sunflowers — different sizes and colors. A small pink wildflower, a Bee Balm flower, and some Blue Larkspur flowers. There were a couple of Bumble bees and a tiny green bee on a Thistle flower. There were more butterflies than I could count. Skippers, Monarchs, and Swallowtails. I need to be careful with the identification of the Swallowtails. There were two sizes of the Tiger Swallowtails, and some of the Black Swallowtails may actually be dark variants of female Tiger Swallowtails.


Goldfinch Eating Sunflower Seeds. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Flowers. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Skipper Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Monarch Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.


Daily Electric Energy Used (51.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Net Surplus 9.6 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Thursday (01-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

From the three underused cameras yesterday, I narrowed it down to one — Leica CL with a 55-135 mm zoom lens. More Sunflower, Butterfly, and Snowberry Clearwing Moths. I also captured some images of a Goldfinch feeding on a Sunflower. The Goldfinch have graduated from the Cornflowers to something with larger seeds. My favoriate image of the day is the first one shown — two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, one in focus and the other out of focus.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 135 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Sunflowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.



Tiger Swallowtail, Common Buckeye, and Silver-spotted Skipper Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.



Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.



Goldfinch feeding on Sunflower seeds. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.


Daily Electric Energy Used (est. 52 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (64.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The amount used is an estimate because of some technical problems with the Sense monitor. Not as cloudy so solar energy production was up 24 kWh for an estimated net surplus of 13 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Friday (26-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Afternoon Walkabout with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter. Butterflies (including an amorous pair of Silver-spotted Skipper). And of course both Hummingbird Clearwing and Snowberry Clearwing moths. It is a target rich environment right now in my wildflower meadows.

Monarch butterfly on a Sunflower Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch butterfly on a Sunflower Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of amorous Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of amorous Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of amorous Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pair of amorous Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)


Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) moth. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Electric Energy Used (51.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (80.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Daily surplus of 29.3 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather

Wednesday (24-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Late Afternoon Daily Walkabout. Nikon Df camera with a 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Butterflies (Spiceberry and Tiger Swallowtails, Monarch, Silver-spotted Skipper, Common Buckeye, and another variety of a Skipper); Birds (Goldfinch and unknown); Flowers (Coneflowers, Partridge Pea, Sunflower, Four O’Clock, and Burma Water Gourd Vine). The yellow Partridge Pea flowers and Four O’Clock flowers are new. The Burma water gourd flowers open at night, and probably need a moth to be pollinated. Last year they didn’t bloom until too late in the season, and I only got small (zucchini sized) gourds.


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Electric Energy Used (50.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (75.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. With lower temperatures the amount of Electric Energy used was down 1.5 kWh and with the sun out most of the day the solar electricity production was up 44.0 kWh from yesterday for a surplus of 25 kWh. Helps to make up for some of the previous very hot (increased usage) and rainy (decrease solar production) days.

Current Weather Conditions

powered by Ambient Weather